Xavier is heading to a familiar arena after spending years as a member of the Atlantic 10. Hopefully that serves as an advantage for the Musketeers. They go head-to-head with NC State, a team that was able to sneak into the field with an ACC Tournament win over struggling Syracuse (and some added lobbying from Coach K). The Wolfpack are dangerous with one of the field’s most dynamic scorers in T.J. Warren, the ACC Player of the Year.

Xavier will counter with a gifted scorer of their own in lead guard Semaj Christon, Warren’s prep school teammate at Brewster Academy (N.H.). He forms a one-two punch with Matt Stainbrook, who will be back from a knee injury.

The winner of this game gets a favorable Round of 64 matchup. Saint Louis, the No. 5 seed in the Midwest, is a talented team, which won 19 straight games at one point this season and cracked the top 10. However, the Billikens have dropped four of their last five games.

The No. 4 seed from the American East Tournament and the No. 4 seed from the Northeast Conference Tournament meet in the First Four to start the NCAA tournament.

Julian Norfleet scores 17.5 points per game for the Mountaineers. Rashad Whack, the team’s leading scorer, averaged 23.0 points per game in the NEC Tournament. The Great Danes have Australian native Peter Hooley, averaging 15.7 points per game. He’s one of four Albany players to average double figures in points.

The winner of this one has the pleasure of facing the top overall seed Florida, which hasn’t lost since Dec. 2.

1) Robert Morris in the NIT … as an No. 8 seed. The Colonials will look to pull off the first round upset for the second year in a row against top-seeded St. John’s.

2) Florida Gulf Coast needs to upset No. 1 Florida State in the NIT first round. Then No. 4 Georgetown needs to top West Virginia. If that happens, the NIT will get a Georgetown-Dunk City rematch. I’d watch that.

3) Belmont and Green Bay, two very good mid-major teams that slipped up in their respective conference tournaments, go head-to-head in the NIT first round.

4) VMI’s high-power offense travels to New York to take on Canisius’ top scorer Billy Baron. That game headlines the CIT slate of games on Tuesday.

5) Indiana State is a pretty good mid-major team with a solid senior point guard in Jake Odum. How does he handle the Arkansas pressure?